Car lots tied to bribes for state worker

She helped dealers avoid tax, U.S. says

A supervisor at a secretary of state facility on the South Side was arrested Tuesday on a charge that she took bribes from the owners of three car dealerships charged last week with laundering millions of dollars in drug profits for street gangs.

A criminal complaint charged that Brenda Strong, an 8-year veteran with the office, helped the dealers avoid paying taxes on vehicles sold on their lots. She also improperly made license checks for them, authorities said.

The alleged corruption occurred despite the widespread publicity from the six-year federal Operation Safe Road investigation that exposed rampant bribery at licensing facilities and led to convictions of nearly 70 people, many of them former secretary of state employees.

Just last month, a former sales manager for the dealerships who wore a hidden video and audio recorder for the FBI, handed Strong a slice of pizza and $100 cash tucked inside a napkin while she worked at the Chicago Auto Show, according to the complaint.

Strong had divulged confidential registration information on a license plate number for the informant in violation of secretary of state policy, the charges alleged.

Confronted by the FBI last week, Strong admitted taking money for favors from the dealerships, saying, "I was doing it and I shouldn't have been," the charges alleged.

Strong, 35, of Chicago was arrested in her car at 64th Street and Cottage Grove Avenue shortly after she dropped her child at school at about 7:45 a.m., said David Druker, a spokesman for Secretary of State Jesse White.

She was placed on unpaid leave of absence from work, Druker said. Strong had been promoted to supervisor in December at the driver's license facility at 99th Street and King Drive and made $32,280 a year, he said.

At an initial appearance in U.S. District Court, Strong was released on her own recognizance. She is charged with one count of mail fraud at this point, Assistant U.S. Atty. Daniel Rubinstein said.

The complaint charged that Strong had been pocketing bribes about every other week since 2001. The former sales manager cooperating with the FBI said he believes Strong was paid about $300 to $400 each time she helped out the dealerships. Strong contended she hadn't been paid more than $2,000.

In seeking bankruptcy protection from creditors in 2001, Strong said she owned nearly $500,000 worth of property. The six buildings, all on the South Side, were surrendered to lenders who were owed almost $450,000, bankruptcy records show.

Strong is charged with accepting money from Hossein Obaei, the owner of American Car Exchange, 1133 N. Ashland Ave., on behalf of himself and Amir Hosseini, who owns Standard Leasing Sales, 3356 W. North Ave. The two, both Iranian natives, also co-own SHO Auto Credit, 5801 S. Western Ave.

Last week, authorities shut down the three car lots and arrested both owners on charges that they were the dealers of choice for the city's largest street gangs by concealing the cash purchases of more than $9 million in luxury cars over the last four years from the IRS.

At a bond hearing on Friday, prosecutors also alleged that Hosseini had been an international heroin trafficker with Hossein Esfahani, another Iranian native who was charged with funneling more than $3 million to Iran between 1999 and 2003 in violation of U.S. trade sanctions.

As many as six other dealers who are associated with Obaei and Hosseini may have passed on bribes to Strong as well, authorities alleged.

Tuesday's complaint charged that Strong would travel about every other week to American Car Exchange. She would use her secretary of state's auditor stamp on dealership paperwork to make it falsely appear that she had verified that state vehicle transfer taxes had been paid, authorities said.

Through Strong's intervention, Obaei was also able to avoid paying sales tax on many of the vehicles sold at the lots, the charges alleged. Yet Obaei still charged customers the full sales tax, pocketing the difference, authorities said.